Sports
The voting results for the 2026 Ballon d'Or revealed an intriguing contrast involving Argentine star Lionel Messi and French forward Ousmane Dembélé. Although Messi finished fifth overall, he received first-place votes from six countries, while Dembélé, the 2025 winner, did not receive any first-place votes from any country. Details published by "France Football" magazine and highlighted by the Spanish newspaper "AS" show that the countries that placed Messi first were Brazil, Argentina, Panama, Belarus, the United Arab Emirates, and China, despite Messi not ranking within the top four overall. Dembélé, who ranked seventh, was placed second by voters from seven countries, including Burkina Faso, China, France, Georgia, Haiti, North Macedonia, and Nigeria, but did not receive any first-place votes. Additional details indicate that China ranked Kylian Mbappé fifth, while a voter from Paraguay placed him third. In Africa, nine out of twenty voting countries selected Mbappé as their first choice. Erling Haaland also did not receive any first-place votes but was ranked second by representatives from Croatia, Northern Ireland, and Norway. Michael Olise was the only journalist from Curaçao to select a player for first place.
